Only those residents and business who have registered with FEMA by 11:59pm on May 1 will be eligible for CDB grants
Gov Chris Christie and HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan announce $1.83 billion in federal grant money for New Jersey’s recovery from Superstorm Sandy at Bahrs Landing, Highlands, 4/29/13. photo by Art Gallagher
U.S . Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan joined Governor Chris Christie at Bahrs Landing in Highlands this morning to announce that the Obama Administration has approved New Jersey’s application for $1.83 billion in grant funds to assist businesses and homeowners from the 9 counties catastrophically impacted by Superstorm Sandy in rebuilding to a “new normal.”
“Today we take another important step toward recovery and healing for hard-hit communities in New Jersey,” said Donovan. “HUD has worked closely with Governor Christie, Senators Menendez and Lautenberg, and the New Jersey Congressional Delegation to help design effective programs that will help small businesses reopen, get families back in their homes make communities more resilient as quickly as possible. We have also imposed additional internal controls and accountability measures and we will be working with the Inspector General to ensure that all funds are used as intended – to help families, small businesses and communities get back on their feet and rebuild.”
“Today’s news sends a very powerful message that New Jersey is moving forward and that the Jersey Shore will be open for business this summer,” said Governor Chris Christie. “These funds will provide critical resources to our Sandy-impacted homeowners and businesses to reconstruct, rehabilitate and continue down the road of recovery. While there is much work ahead of us, we have come a long way during these last six months, and I want to thank Secretary Donovan and his team for their tireless efforts as we all work together to rebuild our great state.”
Christie and Donovan said that the CDB grants will assist homeowners and businesses who have received all that is available from FEMA and their insurance companies, yet have fallen short in the funds needed to rebuild. Donovan emphasized that funds are available in the program for renters and the rebuilding of rental housing.
Only those residents and business who have registered with FEMA by 11:59 on May 1 will be eligible for CDB grants, Christie said.
Anyone who has not yet registered with FEMA should do so immediately by calling 1-800-621-FEMA (3362) or by visiting FEMA’s website at http://www.disasterassistance.gov/
Yet, good news for Trenton Democrats—the NJ Republicans are trying to lose
By Art Gallagher
State Senator Barbara Buono, the presumptive Democratic nominee for governor, received two doses of bad news today (so far) for her fledgling campaign to unseat Governor Chris Christie in November.
1) A Quinnipiac poll released today indicates that Buono has made no progress over the last month in increasing her dismal name recognition. 78% of those polled don’t know enough about Buono to form an opinion. That compares to 79% last month. Of the few who recognize her name, 43% have an unfavorable opinion.
Christie’s numbers remain amazingly strong. 67% approve of the job he is doing as governor. 66% says he deserves to be reelected. In a head to head match up with Buono, Christie wins 58%-26%, with 13% out to lunch.
2) Even worse for Buono, PolitickerNJ reports that she is likely to be the only major party gubernatorial candidate in the history of New Jersey’s matching funds campaign program not to qualify for the maximum amount. PolitickerNJ said that Buono has raised only $29,000 per week since she declared her candidacy in December. In order to earn the maximum $2 million in state matching funds for the primary, she would have to raise $216,000 per week over the next six weeks of the primary campaign.
Christie has opted out of the state matching funds program and has raised upwards of $5 million to date for the primary.
Trenton Republicans Trying to Lose
With Chrisite’s polling and financial numbers so strong, one would think that the Trenton Democrats that control the legislature would be concerned about Christie coattails. Trenton Republicans seem enthused about the prospect of taking control of the legislature, but so far their campaign is deploying the stupidest strategy imaginable.
I’m not a professional political strategist, I just play one of the Internet. In my not so humble opinion the NJ GOP‘s campaign against Corzine Democrats is the dumbest political strategy since Christine O’Donnell declared she is not a witch.
Governor Christie meeting with business owners at McLoone’s Pier House in Long Branch, April 18, 2013. Photo by Art Gallagher
After meeting with business owners in Long Branch yesterday, Governor Chris Christie told the press that the businesses’ biggest frustration is the amount of phone calls they get asking if they are open. “They’re happy that at least the phone is ringing,” said Christie, emphasizing that the perception that the Shore is not open has to be impacted.
Christie said that there would be a multi-media ad campaign launch by the Economic Development Authority next month to promote Jersey Shore Tourism. It has not been determined if Christie will appear in the aid. “I haven’t been asked. If I’m asked and I think it is appropriate I will consider it,” the governor said in response to a reporter who asked if he would appear in the state funded ad during the gubernatorial campaign season.
The governor said that EDA would be announcing a working capital grant program for businesses impacted by Superstorm Sandy in May and that the Department of Community Affairs will be administering a grant program for homeowners who can apply for up to $150,000 in federal money, over and above what they have already received from FEMA and their insurance companies to rebuild their homes.
Governor Chris Christie will be holding a roundtable discussion with local business leaders, followed by a press conference, at McLoone’s Pier House in Long Branch this afternoon. The event is scheduled to start at 2:30.
Christie’s overall approval rating is 63%, according to Patrick Murray, the director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute. The governor’s ratings are slightly stronger among registered voters, 65% of whom approve of his job performance. 86% of Republicans, 64% of Independents and 52% of give Christie high marks.
On the stump, Christie has been promoting how he has reduced the size of government in New Jersey since taking office. “There’s over 5000 fewer employees in state government today than when I took office, and over 20,000 fewer government employees across the state,” Christie says in a campaign video, “We promised to make government smaller, we’ve made government smaller.” Despite these facts, 54% of public workers approve of Christie’s job performance compared to 37% who do not.
Since Superstorm Sandy, there has been virtually no “gender gap” in Christie’s approval ratings as measured by the Monmouth Poll. In a poll released on September 27, 2012, one month before Sandy, men approved of Christie’s performance by a 61%-31% margin. Women approved by only 6 points, 47%-41%. In Murray’s first post Sandy poll on Christie, in December, the gender gap closed. 68% of men and 66% of women approved in December. The trend continued in the February poll with 69% of men and 70% of women approving of the governor. In today’s poll, the gender gap exceeded the statistical margin of error for the first time since Sandy, with the surprising result that women approve of Christie more than men do. Women approve by a 65%-26% margin and men approve by 61%-27%.
If Murray polled a head to head match up between Christie and the presumptive Democratic nominee for governor, State Senator Barbara Buono, he did not report the results today. He did report that 59% of registered voters think that Christie deserves a second term.
“You’re very nice, Senator, seriously,” Matthews said to end the interview to Buono’s disapproving smirk.
Matthews spent the first two thirds of the segment setting Governor Chris Christie up as impossible to beat in November. A “Dawn Quixote” graphic, inferring that Buono’s quest to defeat Christie in November is an Impossible Dream, displayed for the entire interview.
U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg missed work, on doctors orders, for the entire month of March. On Friday he released a statement saying he will not return to Washington on Monday as the Senate convenes after a two week recess, according to reports in The Star Ledger and Politico.
“I regret that I will not be returning to Washington next week as I continue treatment for, and recuperate from, muscle weakness and fatigue. My physician continues to advise me to work from home and not travel at this time,” Lautenberg said in a statement issued by his office.
Lautenberg added: “I am disappointed I will not be present for the opening of the debate on gun legislation in the Senate. It is an issue I am deeply passionate about, and my victories over the gun lobby are among my proudest accomplishments. I am, however, gratified that my legislation to ban high-capacity ammunition magazines will be one of the key amendments offered to this bill.”
Lautenberg will also miss the confirmation of U.S. Magistrate Patty Shwartz to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, a nomination that was initially blocked by New Jersey’s junior senator, Bob Menendez.
“I have worked hard since Judge Shwartz’s nomination by President Obama toward her confirmation, and I am confident that she will be confirmed by a strong majority of my colleagues,” Lautenberg said.
Lautenberg, 89, announced in February that he would not seek reelection in 2014.
Should the senate seat become vacant on or before August 27, New Jersey’s election law requires that a successor be elected in the November general election. If a vacancy occurs after August 27, the next election for the seat would be on schedule in November of 2014, unless the governor calls for a special election sooner. Governor Christie could appoint a temporary senator or leave the seat vacant.
As a political blogger, I expected that my story about former NFL player and convicted sex offender Christian Peter being on a Christie fund raising committee would be viewed in a political context. Both Democrats and Republicans asked me, “Why are you taking a shot at Christie?” “I’m not,” I replied, “I’m taking a shot at Peter. I am close to a few sexual assault survivors and I am related to recovering alcoholics. I don’t give sexual predators or addicts any slack.” “Yeah, right,” they said, “you’re taking a shot at Christie.” That’s they would be doing.
I confess, if I found out that Peter was on the host committee of a Menendez or Buono fundraiser, my inner partisan blogger would be inclined to make hay with that information. But I would wait until after the fundraiser. I would try to get photos taken at the fundraiser of Peter with the candidate and the other politicians present and then wait to use them to strike or counter-strike at the opportune time. That’s how the game is played, as they say. But sexual assault and the destructive wake of addiction is not a game for me.
So, my inner political blogger did my friends who will be attending the Christie fundraiser a favor. Most that of them that I talked to before I published the story had either forgotten about or never knew of Peter’s history of violence against women, even though it was written about just four months ago in the New York Times. Who would have guessed that my political friends don’t read the New York Times’ sports section? Now they know about Peter’s history. They can choose to pose for pictures with him, or have a drink with him, or not, with full knowledge of his history.
That’s part of why I wrote the story, but not the most important reason.
The story I wanted to write about Peter is a tale of how he’s turned his life around. A tale about his triumph over his demons. About how he’s made amends to the people he has hurt. I wanted to write about how he is making a difference for battered women and how he’s training young athletes not to make the mistakes he’s made.
ASBURY PARK, NJ – JANUARY 12: NFL player, Christian Peter and WCW World Heaveyweight wrestler, Diamond Dallas Page attends the 2012 Light of Day New Jersey Rock N’ Bowl A Thon at Asbury Lanes on January 12, 2012 in Asbury Park, New Jersey. (Photo by Bobby Bank/Getty Images)
Former NFL player, admitted alcoholic and convicted sex offender Christian Peter is a member of the host committee for a Governor Christie fundraiser/cocktail party scheduled for April 30th in Middletown.
Political fundraising host committees typically don’t meet. Members names are included on invitations in order to encourage others to attend and contribute to the event and as an acknowledgement of the level of funds the member has agreed to contribute or raise. The invitation to the April 30th event at the DiPiero residence on Navesink River Road can be viewed here.
The committee, chaired by Senator Joe and Susan Kyrillos, is a who’s who of investment banking, medicine, commerce, philanthropy, politics and government in Monmouth County and beyond. Peter’s name sticks out like item from a which item does not belong test.
